System for controlling operation of feeding recording media, and method for controlling operation of feeding recording media, and storage medium

ABSTRACT

A system for controlling an operation of feeding recording media from a plurality of physical medium containers of an output apparatus includes at least one memory to store output-related media/container information including logical information, property information of the recording media, and information of the plurality of physical medium containers by associating the logical information and the property information of the recording media, and associating the logical information and the information of the plurality of physical medium containers, and circuitry configured to generate an output instruction including logical information, extract the logical information from the output instruction, and identify one or more physical medium containers each containing a specific recording medium to be used in performing an image forming operation by referring the property information of the recording media and the information of the plurality of physical medium containers each associated with the extracted logical information in the memory.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority pursuant to 35 U.S.C. §119(a) toJapanese Patent Application No. 2016-050257, filed on Mar. 14, 2016 inthe Japan Patent Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated byreference herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

Technical Field

This disclosure relates to a system for controlling operation of feedingrecording media, a method for controlling the operation of feeding therecording media, and a storage medium storing a program for controllingthe operation of feeding the recording media.

Background Art

The information output apparatus, including a medium container to storerecording media such as sheets, outputs information in the form of animage formed on a recording medium supplied from the medium container.The information output apparatus is, for example, a printing apparatus.The printing apparatus may be a personal printer (hereinafter, printer)or a commercial printing machine connected to an information processingapparatus such as a personal computer (PC), in which the printingapparatus performs an image forming operation based on an outputinstruction received from the information processing apparatus.

The printing apparatus may include a plurality of medium containers tostore various types of recording media in the respective mediumcontainers. This printing apparatus performs the image forming operationusing a recording medium supplied from one medium container that isdesignated in the output instruction. When a special type of recordingmedium is used, the entire control condition of the printing apparatusis changed in view of a type and size of the special recording medium.

The special type of recording medium means a medium having specialproperties such as format and size different from standard recordingmedium. For example, if the recording medium is paper, the special typeof recording medium means paper having a size different from a standardsize of paper. Further, the entire control condition of the printingapparatus includes a paper transport condition and a process condition.Therefore, when performing the image forming operation based on theoutput instruction designating the special type paper, the entirecontrol condition of the printing apparatus is required to be changed toa special condition before performing the image forming operation usingthe special type paper.

Typically, the control condition of the printing apparatus is changed byan operator according to each type of recording medium. When varioustypes of recording media are used, the operator work becomes complex asthe operator needs to change the control condition of the printingapparatus for each type of recording medium. This may increaseoccurrence of an error in setting the control condition of the printingapparatus due to the complex work performed by the operator.

SUMMARY

As one aspect of the present invention, a system for controlling anoperation of feeding recording media from a plurality of physical mediumcontainers of an output apparatus is devised. The system includes atleast one memory to store output-related media/container information,the output-related media/container information including logicalinformation, property information of the recording media, andinformation of the plurality of physical medium containers byassociating the logical information and the property information of therecording media, and associating the logical information and theinformation of the plurality of physical medium containers, andcircuitry configured to generate an output instruction including logicalinformation, the output instruction causing the output apparatus toperform an image forming operation, extract the logical information fromthe output instruction, and identify one or more physical mediumcontainers each containing a specific recording medium to be used inperforming the image forming operation by referring the propertyinformation of the recording media and the information of the pluralityof physical medium containers each associated with the extracted logicalinformation in the memory.

As another aspect of the present invention, a method of controlling anoperation of feeding recording media from a plurality of physical mediumcontainers of an output apparatus in a system is devised. The methodincludes storing output-related media/container information, theoutput-related media/container information including logicalinformation, property information of the recording media, andinformation of the plurality of physical medium containers byassociating the logical information and the property information of therecording media, and associating the logical information and theinformation of the plurality of physical medium containers, generatingan output instruction including logical information, the outputinstruction causing the output apparatus to perform an image formingoperation, extracting the logical information from the outputinstruction, and identifying one or more physical medium containers eachcontaining a specific recording medium to be used in performing theimage forming operation by referring the property information of therecording media and the information of the plurality of physical mediumcontainers each associated with the extracted logical information in thememory.

As another aspect of the present invention, a non-transitory storagemedium storing a program that, when executed by a computer, causes thecomputer to execute a method of controlling an operation of feedingrecording media from a plurality of physical medium containers of anoutput apparatus in a system is devised. The method includes storingoutput-related media/container information, the output-relatedmedia/container information including logical information, propertyinformation of the recording media, and information of the plurality ofphysical medium containers by associating the logical information andthe property information of the recording media, and associating thelogical information and the information of the plurality of physicalmedium containers, generating an output instruction including logicalinformation, the output instruction causing the output apparatus toperform an image forming operation, extracting the logical informationfrom the output instruction, and identifying one or more physical mediumcontainers each containing a specific recording medium to be used inperforming the image forming operation by referring the propertyinformation of the recording media and the information of the pluralityof physical medium containers each associated with the extracted logicalinformation in the memory.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more complete appreciation of the description and many of theattendant advantages and features thereof can be readily obtained andunderstood from the following detailed description with reference to theaccompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a configuration of a printing controlsystem including an apparatus for controlling an operation of feedingrecording media of an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a hardware block diagram of an informationprocessing apparatus included in the apparatus for controlling theoperation of feeding the recording media of an embodiment;

FIG. 3 is software modules executable in the printing control system ofthe embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a sequential chart of an example operation of a controller ofthe embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a sequential chart of another example operation of acontroller of the embodiment;

FIG. 6 is one example of a setting edition screen of the embodiment;

FIG. 7 is another example of a setting edition screen of the embodiment;

FIG. 8 is an example of a logical container information list associatinglogical container numbers and recording media;

FIG. 9 is an example of a physical container information listassociating logical container numbers and physical container numbers;and

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating steps of a process of controllingthe operation of feeding the recording media of the embodiment.

The accompanying drawings are intended to depict exemplary embodimentsof the present invention and should not be interpreted to limit thescope thereof. The accompanying drawings are not to be considered asdrawn to scale unless explicitly noted, and identical or similarreference numerals designate identical or similar components throughoutthe several views.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A description is now given of exemplary embodiments of the presentinvention. It should be noted that although such terms as first, second,etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, components,regions, layers and/or sections, it should be understood that suchelements, components, regions, layers and/or sections are not limitedthereby because such terms are relative, that is, used only todistinguish one element, component, region, layer or section fromanother region, layer or section. Thus, for example, a first element,component, region, layer or section discussed below could be termed asecond element, component, region, layer or section without departingfrom the teachings of the present invention.

In addition, it should be noted that the terminology used herein is forthe purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is notintended to be limiting of the present invention. Thus, for example, asused herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended toinclude the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicatesotherwise. Moreover, the terms “includes” and/or “including”, when usedin this specification, specify the presence of stated features,integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do notpreclude the presence or addition of one or more other features,integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groupsthereof.

Furthermore, although in describing views illustrated in the drawings,specific terminology is employed for the sake of clarity, the presentdescription is not limited to the specific terminology so selected andit is to be understood that each specific element includes all technicalequivalents that operate in a similar manner and achieve a similarresult. Referring now to the drawings, one or more apparatuses orsystems according to one or more embodiments are described hereinafter.

(Apparatus for Controlling Operation of Feeding Recording Media)

A description is given of an example of a system for controlling anoperation of feeding recording media of an embodiment of the presentinvention with reference to drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of aconfiguration of a printing control system 200 used as the system forcontrolling the operation feeding recording media of the embodiment ofthe present invention. The printing control system 200 includes, forexample, a printing apparatus 100, and a HOST 5 communicably coupled toor connected with each other via a network. The printing apparatus 100includes, for example, a controller 1 and an output apparatus 2. In anexample case of FIG. 1, the controller 1 can be used an apparatus orunit to control the operation feeding the recording media. The printingapparatus 100 can be used as an information output apparatus such as animage forming apparatus, and the HOST 5 can be used as an outputinstruction generation apparatus.

As indicated in FIG. 1, the printing apparatus 100 is communicablycoupled to or connected with the HOST 5 via a communication network 4.The HOST 5 is an information processing apparatus that may be used forcommercial business such as a large scale computer. In this disclosure,the HOST 5, used as the output instruction generation apparatus,generates an output instruction. The output instruction generated by theHOST 5 and transmitted to the printing apparatus 100 via thecommunication network 4 uses, for example, data stream for a higherperformance printing apparatus such as Intelligent Print Data Stream(IPDS). The IPDS is used as an interface for an all points addressableprinter. By applying the IPDS, pages having various types of data can beprinted correctly.

The communication network 4 is, for example, the Internet. The HOST 5can be disposed at one site, and the printing apparatus 100 can bedisposed at another site, which are remote sites distanced with eachother.

The printing apparatus 100 includes, for example, the controller 1, andthe output apparatus 2. The printing apparatus 100 is used as an exampleof the image forming apparatus in this disclosure. The controller 1 andthe output apparatus 2 can be communicably coupled to or connected witheach other by using a direct line without using a local area network(LAN) 3. Further, if a good level of security and data transmission bandcan be secured between the controller 1 and the output apparatus 2, thecontroller 1 and the output apparatus 2 can be communicably coupled toor connected with each other via the LAN 3. The LAN 3 and thecommunication network 4 are coupled or connected with each other, withwhich the LAN 3 is coupled to the HOST 5 via the communication network4. With this configuration, the HOST 5 and the printing apparatus 100can be communicably coupled or connected with each other via thecommunication network 4 and the LAN 3. In this configuration, the outputinstruction generated by the HOST 5 and transmitted to the printingapparatus 100 can be processed by the controller 1, and the outputinstruction can be used as a source instruction to perform a given imageforming operation at the output apparatus 2.

In this description, it is assumed that the HOST 5 and the printingapparatus 100 are disposed at different sites, which are remote siteswith each other while the controller 1 and the output apparatus 2 of theprinting apparatus 100 are disposed at relatively near places such asthe same building or the same room.

As indicted in FIG. 1, the controller 1 includes, for example, a controlunit 10, an operation panel 11, and a communication unit 12. Thecommunication unit 12 can be used to receive the output instructiontransmitted from the HOST 5 such as an external apparatus, and totransfer the received output instruction to the control unit 10 to bedescribed later. Further, the communication unit 12 is used tocommunicate information with the output apparatus 2.

The controller 1 is, for example, a digital front end (DFE). The DFEperforms the image processing required for a printing operation at theoutput apparatus 2. Therefore, the DFE includes a raster image processor(RIP) engine that can generate raster data, which is image data to beused at the output apparatus 2 when performing the printing operation.

The control unit 10 controls the controller 1 entirely. The control unit10 analyzes the output instruction received from the communication unit12, in which the control unit 10 determines information designating arecording medium (e.g., sheet) used for the image forming operation, andinformation indicating a medium container where the designated recordingmedium is stored. The control unit 10 will be described in detail later.

The operation panel 11 is an information input device such as a touchscreen. The operation panel 11 is used as the information input deviceto input, for example, condition settings to be used for an analysisprocess of the control unit 10.

The output apparatus 2 includes, for example, an engine controller 21, adigital engine 22, and a container (tray) unit 23. The output apparatus2 is, for example, a digital printing apparatus using anelectrophotography method, an inkjet method or the like that performs animage forming operation without using a plate. The engine controller 21controls physical factors such as fixing temperature of toner to be usedfor the image forming operation using the sheet. The digital engine 22performs processing of the image data received from the controller 1based on the physical factors controlled by the engine controller 21 tobe used for the image forming operation. The digital engine 22 mayinclude an image generator and a printing unit to perform the imageforming operation.

As indicated in FIG. 1, the media container apparatus 23 can beconfigured with a plurality of medium containers to contain a pluralityof recording media such as sheet (e.g., paper). Specifically, the mediacontainer apparatus 23 includes a first container 231 (hereinafter,medium container 231), a second container 232 (hereinafter, mediumcontainer 232), and a n-th container 23 n (hereinafter, medium container23 n), in which “n” is a natural number. When a plurality of types ofrecording media is used, each of the medium containers of the mediacontainer apparatus 23 may contain a specific type recording medium(hereinafter, specific recording medium). As to the media containerapparatus 23, each one of the medium containers 231, 232, and 23 ncontain one type of the recording medium among various types ofrecording media having different properties. Based on the instructioninformation received from the controller 1, the media containerapparatus 23 selects a specific recording medium corresponding to theinstruction information from a specific medium container containing thecorresponding specific recording medium, and supplies the selectedspecific recording medium for performing the image forming operation.

In a case of FIG. 1, the output apparatus 2 is the digital printingapparatus, but not limited thereto. For example, the output apparatus 2can be an offset printing apparatus that performs an image formingoperation using a plate. In a case of FIG. 1, the controller 1 and theoutput apparatus 2 are disposed in the same apparatus such as theprinting apparatus 100, but not limited thereto. For example, thecontroller 1 and the output apparatus 2 can be devised as differentindependent apparatuses.

(Hardware Block Diagram)

A description is given of a hardware block diagram of the informationprocessing apparatus such as the HOST 5 and the controller 1 withreference to FIG. 2. As indicated in FIG. 2, the information processingapparatus in this disclosure has a configuration similar to generalservers and personal computers (PC). Specifically, the informationprocessing apparatus such as the HOST 5 and the controller 1 includes,for example, a central processing unit (CPU) 101, a random access memory(RAM) 102, a read only memory (ROM) 103, a hard disk drive (HDD) 104,and an interface (I/F) 105 that can be connected or coupled with eachother by a bus 108. Further, a liquid crystal display (LCD) 106 and anoperation unit 107 can be connected or coupled to the interface I/F 105.

The CPU 10 is a computing unit such as circuitry or a processor thatcontrols the entire operations of the information processing apparatus.The RAM 20 is a volatile memory, to which information can be read andwritten with a high speed, and the CPU 10 uses the RAM 20 as a workingarea when processing information or data. The ROM 30 is a non-volatilememory used as a read only memory, in which various programs such asfirmware are stored. The HDD 40 is a non-volatile memory, to whichinformation can be read and written. For example, the HDD 40 stores anoperating system (OS), various control programs, and applicationprograms.

The I/F 105 is connected or coupled to the bus 108, various units andnetworks, and controls the connection or coupling. The LCD 106 is a userinterface, with which a user can check a status of the informationprocessing apparatus visually. The LCD 106 can be used as a display. Theoperation unit 107 is a user interface such as a key board and a mouse,with which a user can input information to the information processingapparatus. Since the HOST 5 is used as a server, a user interface suchas LCD 106 and operation unit 107 can be omitted for the HOST 5.

As to the above described hardware block diagram of the informationprocessing apparatus, the CPU 101 performs computing by loading programsstored in the ROM 103, the HDD 104, and/or an external memory such as anoptical disk on the RAM 102 to configure a software module. With acombination of the software module and the hardware, the functionalblocks required for the controller 1 used as the apparatus forcontrolling the operation feeding the recording media can be devised.

(Software Configuration)

A description is given of software modules executable in the printingcontrol system 200 with reference to FIG. 3. As indicated in FIG. 3, theHOST 5 includes, for example, a first communication controller 510, andan output instruction generator 501 as software modules. As indicated inFIG. 3, the controller 1 used as the apparatus for controlling theoperation feeding the recording media includes, for example, an outputinstruction analyzer 110, a container information searching unit 111, acontainer information storing unit 112, an output control unit 113, acontainer information updating unit 114, an operation panel controller115, and a second communication controller 116 as software modules.

The first communication controller 510 of the HOST 5 performs acommunication processing (communication step) such as receivinginformation (e.g., output-related media/container information) reportedfrom the controller 1, and transmitting an output instruction to thecontroller 1.

The output instruction generator 501 is also used as a logicalinformation storing unit that stores the output-related media/containerinformation reported from the controller 1. Therefore, the outputinstruction generator 501 stores the output-related media/containerinformation reported from the controller 1 in a memory such as the RAM102. FIG. 8 illustrates an example of the output-related media/containerinformation indicated as a logical container information list 120. Asindicated in FIG. 8, the logical container information list 120, used asthe output-related media/container information, includes a sheetinformation 1201 and a logical container number 1202 by associating thesheet information 1201 and the logical container number 1202.

The sheet information 1201 is property information indicating a “sheettype” that specifies or identifies the type of recording medium. Asdisclosed later in this description, since the logical container number1202 is associated with a physical container number 1203 associated withone or more medium containers (see FIG. 9) actually disposed for theprinting apparatus 100, the logical container number 1202 can be used asthe identifier to identify each one of the plurality of the mediumcontainers actually disposed for the printing apparatus 100. The logicalcontainer number 1202 may be also referred to as the logical informationin this description.

The logical container information list 120 includes the logicalcontainer number 1202, which is one information required to identify orspecify a recording medium designated in an output instruction. FIG. 8illustrates an example of the type of recording medium identified orspecified by the logical container number 1202, but the type ofrecording medium identified by the logical container number 1202 is notlimited thereto. For example, information indicating an output directionof recording medium can be included in the type of recording medium. Theinformation indicating the output direction of recording medium means,for example, “long edge feed (LEF)” and “short edge feed (SEF).” The“LEF” means a sheet is fed along a long side of the sheet, and the “SEF”means a sheet is fed along a short side of the sheet.

The logical container information list 120 is stored in the containerinformation storing unit 112 to be described later. The logicalcontainer information list 120 is reported to the HOST 5 from thecontroller 1 in the above described transmission process.

The output instruction generator 501 generates an output instruction tobe reported to the controller 1 (output instruction generation step).When generating the output instruction at the output instructiongenerator 501, the output instruction generator 501 refers informationincluded in the output-related media/container information, which isalready reported from the controller 1. Therefore, the outputinstruction generator 501 generates the output instruction including theoutput-related media/container information and output target information(output instruction generation step).

The output target information means, for example, information such asimages and characters to be output by using the recording mediumidentified or specified by the output-related media/containerinformation.

As to the controller 1, the second communication controller 116transmits the output-related media/container information to the HOST 5,and receives output-related information from the HOST 5.

The output instruction analyzer 110 analyzes the output instructionreceived from the HOST 5 via the second communication controller 116(output instruction analysis step). The output instruction analyzer 110analyzes the output instruction to extract the “output-relatedmedia/container information” and the “output target information”included in the output instruction.

The container information searching unit 111, used as a containersearching unit, extracts information related to a physical position of aspecific medium container from the container information storing unit112 based on the output-related media/container information (containersearching step). The container information searching unit 111 searchesinformation stored in the container information storing unit 112 basedon the output-related media/container information.

Further, the container information searching unit 111 searches thecontainer information storing unit 112 to identify or specifyidentification information of the medium container, stored in thecontainer information storing unit 112 by associating the identificationinformation of the medium container with the output-relatedmedia/container information, wherein the output-related media/containerinformation is used as a search key. The identification information ofthe medium container means, for example, a logical management numberassigned to each one of the medium containers.

The container information storing unit 112 reads out managementinformation that can identify or specify a physical position of themedium container from the logical management information of the mediumcontainer associated with the output-related media/container informationincluded in the output instruction received from the HOST 5. Further,the container information storing unit 112 stores information, updatedby an operation of the operation panel 11, to the HDD 104 used as aninformation storage medium (storing step).

A description is given of an example of a physical container informationlist 121 stored in the container information storing unit 112 withreference to FIG. 9. Information of the medium containers can beconfigured with the logical container information list 120 and thephysical container information list 121 stored in the containerinformation storing unit 112. The physical container information list121 indicates the medium containers where the recording media arecontained actually. As indicated in FIG. 9, the physical containerinformation list 121 includes the logical container number 1202 and aphysical container number 1203, which are associated with each other.For example, one number of the logical container number 1202 isassociated with one or more numbers of the physical container numbers1203 as indicated in FIG. 9, which means one logical container number isassociated with one or more physical container numbers.

In this description, the logical container means a virtual containerassociated with properties of one recording medium such as size anddirection of one recording medium. When the logical container number1202 is identified or specified, property information of recordingmedium such as color, size, thickness, basis weight, direction, and typecan be identified or specified. The physical container means a containerthat contains one of recording media (e.g. sheet) actually. As indicatedin FIG. 9, the logical container number 1202 can be associated with oneor more numbers of the physical container numbers 1203 (i.e., actualcontainers). Therefore, the logical container number 1202 can be used asan identifier to identify each one of the plurality of the mediumcontainers (i.e., medium containers 231,232, 23 n in FIG. 1) included inthe media container apparatus 23. Therefore, the recording mediumidentified or specified by the logical container number 1202 can be setin one or more containers among the plurality of containers actuallydisposed for the printing apparatus 100.

In this description, the logical container information list 120indicated in FIG. 8 is stored in the output instruction generator 501,and the physical container information list 121 is stored in thecontainer information storing unit 112, which means the logicalcontainer information list 120 and the physical container informationlist 121 are stored in different units such as different memories, butthe logical container information list 120 and the physical containerinformation list 121 can be stored in the same units such as the samememory.

As indicated in FIG. 9, the logical container number 1202 included inthe output instruction is associated with the physical container number1203. Therefore, when the physical container number 1203 is identifiedor specified, the recording medium can be supplied or fed from one ofthe actual medium containers. With this configuration, the output targetinformation can be output by using a given recording medium.

The output control unit 113 reports the output target information andthe output-related media/container information to the output apparatus 2based on the analysis result of the output instruction analyzer 110 tobe used for an operation at the output apparatus 2.

The container information updating unit 114 can change the logicalcontainer information list 120 stored in the container informationstoring unit 112 based on an input from the operation panel controller115, and then stores the changed logical container information list 120in the container information storing unit 112 (updating step).

The operation panel controller 115 displays a setting edition screen onthe LCD 106 by using a hardware resources such as the LCD 106 and theoperation unit 107 (see FIG. 2) to perform adding, editing, or deletingof information of the logical container information list 120 on the LCD106. Further, the operation panel controller 115 changes a displaystatus based on a change operation, and updates contents of the logicalcontainer information list 120 based on the changed display status.

FIGS. 6 and 7 are examples of a screen 150 used as the setting editionscreen. FIGS. 6 and 7 illustrates the screen 150 including, for example,a mode selector 151, an operation selector 152, a tray setting 153, andan interposer setting 154. In FIGS. 6 and 7, the container is indicatedas the tray.

The mode selector 151 includes, for example, radio buttons used forselecting a plurality of modes settable to the apparatus. The operationselector 152 includes, for example, a plurality of icons used forselecting a plurality of operations set to the apparatus via the screen150. The tray setting 153 displays the logical container informationlist 120 set to the apparatus. The interposer setting 154 indicates anidentifier of a medium container that stores a medium not used for theprinting. The medium not used for the printing means, for example, asheet to be inserted between printed sheets when a given number ofsheets are printed.

For example, the mode selector 151 can be used to select two modes suchas a tray renumbering mode and a media mode. FIG. 6 is an example thesetting edition screen when the media mode is selected. FIG. 7 is anexample the setting edition screen when the tray renumbering mode isselected.

As indicated in FIG. 6, when the media mode is selected, the screen 150displays the operation selector 152 and the interposer setting 154. Bycontrast, as indicated in FIG. 7, when the tray renumbering mode isselected, the screen 150 does not display the operation selector 152. Asto the screen 150 of FIG. 6, the operation selector 152 displays iconsused for selecting a process. For example, the operation selector 152displays an icon used for editing and an icon used for deletinginformation that is set already, and an icon used for adding newinformation. When one icon is clicked, the corresponding process isperformed.

The tray setting 153 displays information stored in the containerinformation storing unit 112 (see FIG. 3) for both of the media mode andthe tray renumbering mode. However, the tray setting 153 used for themedia mode and the tray setting 153 used for the tray renumbering modeare used to set different contents. For example, as indicated in FIG. 6,when the media mode is selected, the “logical container number” “state”and “media (i.e., sheet type)” included in the information areassociated with each other. The media (i.e., sheet type) included in thetray setting 153 in FIG. 6 can be set with information indicating aphysical property and a print product property of a recording medium.For example, the physical property means size, color, basis weight, andtype of the sheet while the print product property means a type oftarget print product such as an envelope. In an example case of FIG. 6,the physical property includes, for example, the size of “A4, A3,” thetype of “tab stock,” and the print product property includes, forexample, “mailer.”

Different from the physical container number linked to the actual mediumcontainer disposed for the printing apparatus 100, the logical traynumber indicated in FIG. 6 can be used as identification information toidentify the setting information. The “state” indicates whether each oneof the settings can be used (i.e., enabled) or cannot be used (i.e.,disabled). The logical container or tray is used as a virtual containeror tray that can be linked to one or more actual medium containers ortrays disposed for the printing apparatus 100. For example, if onelogical container set with conditions of a specific recording mediumsuch as type, size, and feed orientation, the one logical container canbe linked to one or more actual medium containers that match theconditions of the specific recording medium such as type, size, and feedorientation set for the one logical container.

The combination patterns of the sheet information 1201 and the logicalcontainer number 1202 included in the logical container information list120 can be changed. For example, the combination patterns can beincreased by using the operation selector 152 of FIG. 6. Specifically,the number of types of recording media that can be set by using themedia mode is logical numbers, which are different from actual numbersof the medium containers disposed for the printing apparatus 100.Therefore, when the media mode is selected, the number of information ofrecording media settable to the system can be any numbers as requiredwithout the limitation of the actual numbers of the medium containersdisposed for the printing apparatus 100.

Further, the physical container number 1203 can be directly designatedby using the screen 150 of FIG. 7 when the output instruction istransmitted. Specifically, one physical container number associated withone sheet type designated in the output instruction can be designated bytouching the screen 150 when a user touches the screen 150. The user mayuse this function when the user wants to perform the image formingoperation when the image forming operation is not performed even whenthe output instruction is transmitted by setting one logical containernumber in the output instruction.

As to the embodiment, the operation feeding the recording media can beperformed effectively when the output-related media/containerinformation is set by using the screen 150 of FIG. 6.

First Embodiment of Method of Controlling Operation of Feeding RecordingMedia

A description is given of an example of operation of the controller 1with reference to FIG. 4. At first, the controller 1 reports the logicalcontainer information list 120 stored in the container informationstoring unit 112 to the HOST 5 (S1101), in which the logical containerinformation list 120 reported to the HOST 5 includes informationindicating which type of recording medium can be used (i.e., enable) forperforming as printing operation.

Then, the HOST 5 reports an output instruction instructing the contentsof the printing operation to the controller 1 as an “output job”(S1102), and then the controller 1 acquires job data of the output jobreported from the HOST 5 (S1103).

Then, the output instruction analyzer 110 analyzes the job data of theacquired output job (S1104). Then, the controller 1 identifies orspecifies a type of the recording medium used as an output-use mediumbased on an analysis result of the output instruction (S1105), andidentifies or specifies the logical container number 1202 associatedwith the identified or specified recording medium (S1106).

Then, the output instruction analyzer 110 identifies or specifies thephysical container number 1203 from the logical container number 1202identified or specified at step S1106, and generates instructioninformation instructing a feed operation of a recording medium from themedium container associated with the physical container number 1203identified or specified from the logical container number 1202identified or specified at step S1106, and transmits the output targetinformation and the instruction information of to-be-used recordingmedium to the output apparatus 2 (S1107).

Based on the output target information and the instruction informationtransmitted from the controller 1, the output apparatus 2 performs aprinting operation to the recording medium and ejects the printedrecording medium (S1108). Then, the output apparatus 2 transmits acompletion notice to the controller 1 when the image forming operationis completed (S1109).

Second Embodiment of Method of Controlling Operation of FeedingRecording Media

A description is given of another example of operation of the controller1 with reference to FIG. 5, which is a sequential chart of anotherexample operation of the controller 1. As above described, informationstored in the container information storing unit 112 can be updated byusing the screen 150. Further, when the recording medium stored in themedium container of the output apparatus 2 is changed, the outputapparatus 2 can report the medium change information to the controller1.

When the recording medium stored in a specific medium container in theoutput apparatus 2 is changed, the output apparatus 2 detects the changeof the recording medium in the specific medium container, and changesthe container information (S1110). Then, the output apparatus 2 reportsthe changed container information to the controller 1 (S1111).

Based on the changed container information reported from the outputapparatus 2, the controller 1 updates the logical container informationlist 120 stored in the container information storing unit 112 (S1112).After updating the logical container information list 120, thecontroller 1 reports the container information to the HOST 5 (S1101).

As to the above described controller 1, based on the information changedat the output apparatus 2, the controller 1 automatically updatesinformation associating the medium container and the recording medium,and reports the updated information to the HOST 5. With thisconfiguration, the HOST 5 can generate the output instruction matched toa current status of the output apparatus 2.

As to the above described controller 1, the controller 1 executes theprogram for controlling the operation feeding the recording media tocontrol the operation feeding the recording media indicated in FIGS. 4and 5

(Program for Controlling Operation of Feeding Recording Media)

A description is given of a program for controlling the operationfeeding the recording media of an embodiment with reference to FIG. 10,which is a flowchart illustrating steps of a process of controlling theoperation feeding the recording media of the embodiment.

At first, the controller 1 reports the logical container informationlist 120 to the HOST 5 (container information reporting process) (51).The reported logical container information list 120 (see FIG. 8)includes a plurality of combination patterns of the sheet information1201 indicating physical property of the recording medium, and thelogical container number 1202. Each of the logical container numbers isused to store property information of recording medium logically, whichmeans as data.

Then, the controller 1 receives the output instruction from the HOST 5,and analyzes the output instruction (S2). By analyzing the outputinstruction, the output-related media/container information,corresponding to the sheet information 1201, included in the outputinstruction can be identified or specified.

Then, the container information storing unit 112 performs the searchingprocess using the output-related media/container information, performsthe identification process of the medium container (S3) to identify orspecify the physical container number 1203, with which an actual mediumcontainer that contains a specific recording medium used for outputtingthe output target information can be identified or specified.

Then, the controller 1 transmits the output instruction to the outputapparatus 2. Specifically, the controller 1 reports the output targetinformation and the identified physical container number to the outputapparatus 2 (S4).

Then, the output apparatus 2 performs the outputting process such as theimage forming operation. When the image forming operation is completed,the output apparatus 2 is configured to transmit a completion notice tothe controller 1, which means the controller 1 performs a firstdetermination process to determine whether the controller 1 receives anyreport from the output apparatus 2 (S5). If the controller 1 does notreceive the report from the output apparatus 2 (S5: NO), the firstdetermination process is performed again. If the controller 1 receivesthe report from the output apparatus 2 (S5: YES), the sequence proceedsto a next step.

Then, the controller 1 performs a second determination process todetermine whether the controller 1 receives the completion notice fromthe output apparatus 2 (S6). If the controller 1 receives the completionnotice from the output apparatus 2 (S6: YES), the sequence is completed.By contrast, if the controller 1 does not receive the completion noticebut receives another notice from the output apparatus 2 (S6: NO), thecontroller 1 performs a third determination process to determine whetherthe controller 1 receives a notice indicating an error of recordingmedium from the output apparatus 2 (S7). The error of recording mediummeans, for example, that the recording medium cannot be fed from themedium container indicated by the physical container number 1203 that isinstructed to the output apparatus 2 at S4 (output instruction process).For example, the error of recording medium means the recording medium isnot stored in the medium container (i.e., empty), which is known as theout of sheet condition.

If the controller 1 does not receive the notice indicating error ofrecording medium from the output apparatus 2 but receives another noticefrom the output apparatus 2 (S7: NO), the controller 1 reports anothernotice having another contents to an operator such as a maintenanceperson (S8), and the sequence is completed.

If the controller 1 receives the notice indicating the error ofrecording medium from the output apparatus 2 (S7: YES), the controller 1uses the container information storing unit 112 to perform the searchingprocess of the physical container information list 121 (S9). If step S7is YES, one actual medium container indicated by one physical containernumber, identified from the output instruction does not contain therecording medium. Therefore, the container information storing unit 112searches the physical container information list 121 to determineanother actual medium container, indicated by another physical containernumber associated with the logical container number 1202 extracted fromthe output instruction (e.g., logical container number 3 is associatedwith physical container numbers 2, 3, 4 in FIG. 9) (S9). When anotheractual medium container indicated by another physical container numberis determined (S9), the controller 1 updates the physical containernumber 1203 associated with the logical container number 1202, whichmeans the controller 1 updates one physical container number that wasreported to the output apparatus 2 for the previous reporting process toanother physical container number (S9).

Then, based on the updated physical container number 1203 (i.e., anotherphysical container number), the controller 1 performs the reportingprocess again to the output apparatus 2 (S10), and the controller 1reports the output instruction to the output apparatus 2 again.

With this configuration, even if the sheet empty occurs in one mediumcontainer, if other medium container stores the target recording mediumthat can be used for the output instruction, the controller 1 reportsthe HOST 5 to output the output target information by using the targetrecording medium currently contained in other medium container, and thecontroller 1 changes a to-be-used medium container at the outputapparatus 2 so that the outputting process such as the image formingoperation can be performed without interruption.

As indicated in FIG. 9, a plurality of physical container numbers 1203can be pre-set for each one of the logical container numbers 1202, inwhich the plurality of physical container numbers 1203 can be associatedwith each one of the logical container numbers 1202 by pre-settingpriorities among the plurality of physical container numbers 1203.Therefore, even if the sheet empty occurs for one number of theplurality of physical container numbers 1203, the next number of theplurality of physical container numbers 1203 can be set as acurrently-useable physical container number, and the updating process ofthe medium container is performed (S9) based on the priorities.

Then, the changing or switching of the physical container number 1203 isreported to an operator (S8), and the sequence is completed.

As above described, when the output instruction is generated in the HOST5, the controller 1 designates the type of recording medium to be usedalone. Therefore, by indicating the to-be-used recording medium in theoutput instruction, even if the position (number) of the mediumcontainer storing the to-be-used recording medium is changed during theprocessing is performed in the system, the output instruction is notrequired to be generated again to perform the image forming operation.

Further, when the position (number) of the medium container containingthe to-be-used recording medium at the output apparatus 2 is changed,the controller 1 can automatically change the position (number) of themedium container. Therefore, the processing using suitable recordingmedium can be performed without performing the complex work that changesthe setting at the information output apparatus and/or the outputinstruction generation apparatus.

As to the above described embodiment, a work load of an operator at theinformation output apparatus and a work load of an operator at theoutput instruction generation apparatus can be reduced.

Each of the functions of the described embodiments may be implemented byone or more processing circuits or circuitry. Processing circuitryincludes a programmed processor, as a processor includes circuitry. Aprocessing circuit also includes devices such as an application specificintegrated circuit (ASIC), digital signal processor (DSP), fieldprogrammable gate array (FPGA), and conventional circuit componentsarranged to perform the recited functions. Further, the above describedimage processing method performable in the image processing apparatuscan be described as a computer-executable program, and thecomputer-executable program can be stored in a ROM or the like in theimage processing apparatus and executed by the image processingapparatus. Further, the computer-executable program can be stored in astorage medium or a carrier such as compact disc-read only memory(CD-ROM), digital versatile disc-read only memory (DVD-ROM) or the likefor distribution, or can be stored on a storage on a network anddownloaded as required.

Numerous additional modifications and variations for the communicationterminal, information processing system, and information processingmethod, a program to execute the information processing method by acomputer, and a storage or carrier medium of the program are possible inlight of the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood thatwithin the scope of the appended claims, the disclosure of the presentdisclosure may be practiced otherwise than as specifically describedherein. For example, elements and/or features of different examples andillustrative embodiments may be combined each other and/or substitutedfor each other within the scope of this disclosure and appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for controlling an operation of feeding recording media from a plurality of physical medium containers of an output apparatus, the system comprising: at least one memory to store output-related media/container information, the output-related media/container information including logical information, property information of the recording media, and information of the plurality of physical medium containers by associating the logical information and the property information of the recording media, and associating the logical information and the information of the plurality of physical medium containers; and circuitry configured to generate an output instruction including logical information, the output instruction causing the output apparatus to perform an image forming operation; extract the logical information from the output instruction; and identify one or more physical medium containers each containing a specific recording medium to be used in performing the image forming operation by referring the property information of the recording media and the information of the plurality of physical medium containers each associated with the extracted logical information in the memory.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the circuitry updates information included in the output-related media/container information stored in the memory.
 3. The system of claim 2, wherein the circuitry updates information included in the output-related media/container information stored in the memory based on information received from the output apparatus.
 4. The system of claim 2, further comprising: a display to display the information included in the output-related media/container information stored in the memory; and an operation unit to receive a user instruction for changing a display status of the information included in the output-related media/container information stored in the memory and displayed on the display, wherein the operation unit changes the display status when an operation for changing the display status is performed, and the circuitry updates the information included in the output-related media/container information stored in the memory based on the operation for changing the display status.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein the property information of the recording media includes physical property information of the recording media.
 6. The system of claim 5, wherein the property information of the recording media includes at least any one of size, color, basis weight, feed direction, and type of the recording media.
 7. The system of claim 1, wherein the recording media having different properties are containable in the respective physical medium containers.
 8. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of physical medium containers includes a first container and a second container containing the same type of recording medium having the same property, the first container and the second container are identified as an output-use medium based on the logical information and the property information of the recording media, and wherein the circuitry instructs to feed the recording medium from the second container when the recording medium is not fed from the first container.
 9. A method of controlling an operation of feeding recording media from a plurality of physical medium containers of an output apparatus in a system, the method comprising: storing output-related media/container information, the output-related media/container information including logical information, property information of the recording media, and information of the plurality of physical medium containers by associating the logical information and the property information of the recording media, and associating the logical information and the information of the plurality of physical medium containers; generating an output instruction including logical information, the output instruction causing the output apparatus to perform an image forming operation; extracting the logical information from the output instruction; and identifying one or more physical medium containers each containing a specific recording medium to be used in performing the image forming operation by referring the property information of the recording media and the information of the plurality of physical medium containers each associated with the extracted logical information in the memory.
 10. A non-transitory storage medium storing a program that, when executed by a computer, causes the computer to execute a method of controlling an operation of feeding recording media from a plurality of physical medium containers of an output apparatus in a system, the method comprising: storing output-related media/container information, the output-related media/container information including logical information, property information of the recording media, and information of the plurality of physical medium containers by associating the logical information and the property information of the recording media, and associating the logical information and the information of the plurality of physical medium containers; generating an output instruction including logical information, the output instruction causing the output apparatus to perform an image forming operation; extracting the logical information from the output instruction; and identifying one or more physical medium containers each containing a specific recording medium to be used in performing the image forming operation by referring the property information of the recording media and the information of the plurality of physical medium containers each associated with the extracted logical information in the memory. 